INDIANAPOLIS - The Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence — presented to Division II member schools earning an Academic Success Rate of 90 percent or higher — will go to 27 schools in the eighth year of the program.
Two of those 27 schools receiving the prestigious national honor are from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Hillsdale College and Cedarville University.
Bentley was the top performer in the division, turning in a four-year ASR of 99 percent. Five schools also earned rates of 97 percent: Hillsdale, Point Loma, Saint Michael’s, Seattle Pacific and Thomas Jefferson University.
Hillsdale was tied for the second-best ASR in Division II along with the four aforementioned institutions. Cedarville earned the honor for the sixth consecutive year.
The Northeast-10 and Great Lakes Valley conferences led Division II’s 24 conferences in ASR rates, with four athletics programs posting scores of 90 percent or more.
“The schools we recognize with the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence demonstrate a firm commitment to support the academic success of student-athletes,” said Glen Jones, president of Henderson State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. “We commend them for their ongoing efforts to provide student-athletes with the opportunity to excel in the classroom, on the field and for life.”
The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships.
The Division II ASR also captures about 48 percent more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal rate, the ASR counts non-scholarship student-athletes and those who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere, while removing student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. The national ASR for the four cohorts of student-athletes who entered college from 2008 to 2011 is 73 percent, up 1 point from the previous four-year cohort (2007-10).
Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2011 entering class of student-athletes increased 1 point to 57 percent, compared with 50 percent for the general student body.
| School |
Conference |
Four-Year ASR |
| Bentley |
Northeast-10 Conference |
99 |
| Thomas Jefferson University |
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference |
97 |
| Saint Michael's |
Northeast-10 Conference |
97 |
| Point Loma |
Pacific West Conference |
97 |
| Seattle Pacific |
Great Northwest Athletic Conference |
97 |
| Hillsdale |
Great Midwest Athletic Conference |
97 |
| Stonehill |
Northeast-10 Conference |
96 |
| Rollins |
Sunshine State Conference |
95 |
| Eckerd |
Sunshine State Conference |
95 |
| University of the Sciences |
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference |
94 |
| Flagler |
Peach Belt Conference |
94 |
| UC San Diego |
California Collegiate Athletic Association |
94 |
| Regis (Colorado) |
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference |
94 |
| UIndy |
Great Lakes Valley Conference |
92 |
| Cedarville |
Great Midwest Athletic Conference |
92 |
| Westminster (Utah) |
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference |
92 |
| Sioux Falls |
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference |
92 |
| Rockhurst |
Great Lakes Valley Conference |
92 |
| Lewis |
Great Lakes Valley Conference |
91 |
| Barry |
Sunshine State Conference |
91 |
| Assumption |
Northeast-10 Conference |
91 |
| Bellarmine |
Great Lakes Valley Conference |
90 |
| Caldwell |
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference |
90 |
| Oakland City |
Independent |
90 |
| Western Washington |
Great Northwest Athletic Conference |
90 |
| Dominican (California) |
Pacific West Conference |
90 |
| Dallas Baptist University |
Heartland Conference |
90 |